The Approval
by RestfulInsomniac
Summary: What if, when Ethan's father had called Dan, he HAD said something about Sutton being there? Dan Whitehorse isn't an idiot, and so he's going to get down to the bottom of the really, really weird situation his brother has left him with.


**AN: This is something I wrote while watching tonight's episode... Just imagine how things could have gone differently had a little detail changed.**

**This is also something I wrote while procrastinating on the next (and last) chapter of Slipping Away. **

**Enjoy?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Lying Game tv show or books. I'm far too unimportant for that.**

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><p>"You spoke with Dan?"<p>

"Yes."

"Did you say that Sutton was here?"

"It didn't really come up…"

Ethan stared hard at his father. "Did you or did you not?"

"I mentioned it…" His father shrugged nonchalantly, sipping deeply from a beer can. "Why?"

Ethan groaned, feeling his world shaking just slightly around him as he realized what information had been leaked. "Did you mention her by name?"

"Yeah, I might have. Ethan, what is this all about?"

"Sutton isn't my girlfriend, but …Emma is."

His father sighed deeply, rolling his eyes in annoyance at the very teenager-like way that Ethan was avoiding just _telling_ him what was going on. "And who is Emma?"

"Sutton's twin sister who is currently pretending to be Sutton."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

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><p>"Where's Sutton Mercer?" Dan Whitehorse snapped as he approached the front desk of the school, his mind racing as he drummed his fingers on the desk impatiently. The secretary, nonplussed by his attitude, slowly and confusedly typed something into the computer at a pace which a snail could compete with.<p>

"She's currently in room 53… Biology."

"Thanks." Dan burst out quickly before turning on his heel and basically running back through the halls.

It took him no time at all to find the room and he threw open the door, storming inside and brandishing his badge at the teacher before barking out orders. "I need to see Sutton Mercer. _Now_!"

He saw Sutton (or was it?) stand up hesitantly before grabbing her things, sliding them into her bag and following him into the hallway, from where he led her to his car.

"You can sit in front. You're not under arrest… yet."

Sutton's eyes widened and she tugged at her skirt as she slid into the car. "Okay…"

He slid into the driver's seat and turned the ignition of the car on in order to turn on the air conditioning, as it was a very hot day. "Now, I just got a _very_ interesting call from my father. He told me that Ethan had been hiding out at his house for a while, and that he also had a guest with him."

Dan heard her breathing hitch.

"Do you know who that guest was?" He asked her with calculated eyes as she flinched.

"I think I might."

"Would you like to tell me?"

"Not…really."

"Well, that's the thing, _Sutton_, you don't need to tell me. I already know." He stared her down and smirked with a cold satisfaction when she looked down at her feet guiltily.

"So how is it that you're in two places at once?"

"I'm not."

"Oh, really? Then why did my father tell me that a petite brunette named _Sutton_ was staying at his house?"

"Because she is." Sutton answered after a while, examining her peep toed sandals with a sudden intense fascination.

Dan raised an eyebrow. That hadn't been the answer he was expecting… He was ready to fire back on a 'she's not me!' or 'I'm Sutton Mercer, that's probably someone else' or even 'Ethan's cheating on me?' and a huge crying fest, but… 'Because she is'? That did not make sense to him. "If she's Sutton Mercer, who are you?"

The Not-Sutton sighed and eyed him carefully. "Look, I know you're a police officer, and that, somehow, Alec Rybeck has got you into some sort of agreement with him, but… I would really appreciate it if you would hear me out before tossing me to the dogs."

"We'll see. Talk first, I'll decide later."

"Yeah, okay…" She frowned. "Where should I start?"

"How about your name? Your _real_ name."

"A good a place as any, I suppose. My name is Emma Becker."

"And why have you been impersonating Sutton Mercer? And _how?_" He asked, flabbergasted a bit by how easily everything was going.

"I'm taking her place because she asked me to… And how? Well, I look like her."

"I can see that," Dan remarked dryly.

"Well, I look at her because I'm her twin. Identical… Separated at birth, and all that."

Dan nodded slowly, trying to take in the information. "So why didn't the Mercers adopt you too?"

"I don't think they knew I existed." Emma answered honestly, shrugging her shoulders. "All I know is that I was supposed to be adopted by another family before my birth mother, whoever she is, came and got me."

"What happened next?" Dan asked, trying not to show any emotion as 'Emma' continued on with her tale.

"Well, I'm not quite sure. I don't have any memories of her, all I remember is growing up in foster home after foster home… I was never adopted." Emma answered slowly, smiling grimly and sadly at her feet. "I was in a really bad foster home when Sutton contacted me… I couldn't believe my eyes. I had a sister! A _twin_! It was beyond imagination… The foster home situation got _really_ bad, and so Sutton told me to buy a bus ticket and come to Arizona. It wasn't like I had anywhere else to go, so I went."

"Where did you say you lived again?" Dan asked slyly, pulling out his small laptop that was connected to the police database and opening it up, typing quickly.

"Las Vegas, Nevada. Or at least, that was my latest home."

He typed in the necessary details, and, within seconds, there were results. All the information was authentic, and he sighed to himself, wondering how he had ever gotten mixed up in any of this.

"Okay, you seem to check out… But, what's this about assault? I see that you attacked your…foster brother? Travis?"

Emma tensed beside him. "It was self-defense. He was the reason I had to leave…"

"Why? Because you knocked him out?"

"Because he tried to rape me." She spoke quietly, but her words seemed to slap him in the face.

For a moment, he had forgotten that foster homes were not all sunshine and rainbows… Just because the girl looked like Sutton didn't mean that she had been raised the same way. He winced as he realized that the girl sitting next to him had, in all probability, been dragged into the whole mess by her sister.

"I'm sorry to hear that… so… After serving your jail sentence and being released by a random benefactor, you came here."

Emma bit her lip. "Actually…no. The night of the attempted rape, I got here, and Sutton told me to switch places with her. I did so… And then, after a few very, _very_ long days, or… maybe it was a week. Was it a week? I don't remember… anyways, Sutton went on a search for our birthparents, and ended up in Arizona, where she was arrested. She served the time, not me."

Dan nodded slowly, furrowing his brow. "So, how long have you been Sutton?"

"For… a while. Every since, hmmm… Well, just a bit after Sutton got back from Paris."

He felt himself sigh a bit from relief before jumping up. "Wait, so you pretended to be with Ethan?" He couldn't help but feel as if he had failed his brother by not paying closer attention to what had been happening… But… He and Sutt-_Emma_ had seemed very real…

"Ethan is… complicated."

"I have time."

"Well, when I got here, Sutton was with some…guy? I don't remember his name… It feels like so long ago… Anyways, she was with this guy, at least, publicly, and I came in, and broke up with him. I was also really weirded out because Ethan kept staring at me. Finally, he kissed me, and then told me that I wasn't Sutton. He and her had been sneaking around in a relationship for a while, and Sutton hadn't told me, so of course I hadn't known the appropriate way to act. He was getting really frustrated with her because she wanted to hide him, and didn't want to go public with him, and uh…"

Dan groaned at the realization that Ethan had been with the hated Sutton. "Go on?"

"Well, we were really close for a while, since I had no clue what was going on, and he was the only one who I could really talk to… We began to develop feelings for one another, and then Sutton cheated on him, which led to…"

He waited for her to finish.

"We started dating. And I'm in love with him. He surprised me during homecoming by showing up… He had told me before that he couldn't go because Sutton didn't want their relationship out in public, but he showed up. In a tux. Looking unbelievably handsome…."

Dan nodded slowly. "So, you guys are boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Yep."

"So why is Sutton with him, and not you?"

"The day that he was going to be arrested, Sutton was with him, and I was posing as her. We were supposed to switch, but police officers showed up, and they had to get out of there."

Dan sighed. "And why is this so unbelievably complicated?"

Emma laughed dryly. "Don't ask me. If I had my way, Sutton would have just introduced me to her family, and I would have rented out an apartment near here to be near her and to go to school here."

"Do the Mercers have any idea?"

"Nope. But they are very confused as to how Sutton keeps having mood swings… See, Sutton has a way different personality than I do, and when she came back, they got suspicious."

"So, you're the good twin, and she's the evil one."

Emma grinned shyly. "I guess."

They sat in silence for a moment before Dan spoke. "Do you really like my brother?"

"I'm in love with him."

"Are you going to do anything to hurt him?"

"Never." Emma swore, and Dan could tell she meant it.

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><p>"Come on, come on, pick up…" Ethan groaned, tugging at his hair while the video call rang on his laptop.<p>

He cursed as the little wheel on the screen went round and round. "Pick up, pick up, pick up!"

Finally, the screen went to black, and then a picture appeared.

It wasn't the person he had expected to see.

"Hey, Dan…" He grinned nervously, trying not to let his panicked expression show. "How are you?" And what the _hell_ was he doing with the laptop Emma was using?

"I'm great. I just had a really nice, _long_ talk with your girlfriend!" His brother exclaimed, grinning malevolently.

"Oh, really?"

"Would you come here a sec?" Dan asked someone off-screen and Ethan could hear his own heart thumping in his chest as Emma appeared.

"Hey, Ethan."

"Hi. How are you?" He asked, a smile spreading across his face while he could feel his heart slowing down just from seeing his girlfriend. For the first time since he had had to leave her, he felt as though he could really _breathe_.

"I'm really good." She answered, smiling softly at him, and he could feel his smile widening.

"Anyways," Dan interrupted, and his smile disappeared. "_Emma_ and I have had a nice, long chat."

His eyes widened at the word Emma. Ethan looked to her for further clarification.

"I told him everything…" She explained. "I kind of had to."

"The whole situation is crazy." Dan grimaced. "Why couldn't you just stay out of this?"

"Kind of got dragged in, bro."

"Could we have a moment to talk?" Dan requested, turning to Emma who smiled back.

"Sure! I'm going to go grab a drink, you want anything?"

Dan shrugged. "A bottle of water?"

"Got it." Emma smiled once more at Ethan before walking out of the picture. Ethan watched her go.

Dan jumped on the opportunity to talk to his younger brother. "Is Emma the reason you kept telling me Sutton had changed?"

"Uhh… Yes." Ethan answered, confused by the change of topic.

"Is Emma a good person?"

"The best I've ever met."

"Has she ever done anything to you that could have endangered you or your future?"

"No."

"Okay then." Dan grinned. "I approve."

"What?"

"Are you deaf? I said…" Dan leaned in closer to the screen. "I. Approve. Now don't mess this up."

Ethan grinned, deliriously happy that his girlfriend and brother, the two most important people in his life, were getting along. "I won't. I swear."

So when Sutton threw herself at him, trying to kiss him, he pushed her away once more, and didn't pay any mind while she cursed at him.

He wasn't messing up what he had with Emma for _anything_.

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><p><strong>So, that's it. Short, sweet, and awfully boring. I apologize for the awfulness, but I honestly just wanted to write something. <strong>

**I hoped you enjoyed it! **

**PS: Feedback is always appreciated.**

**-Marie**


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